The present invention relates generally to communicating information over a telephone network and more particularly to a system and method for communicating electronic messages over a telephone network between a messaging server and at least one remote device acoustically coupled to a telephone connected to the telephone network.
Prior to the proliferation of computers, people communicated with each other primarily through the use of letters, telephones and/or facsimiles. However, in recent years, with the widespread use of computers, an expanding telephone network, and the rising popularity of the Internet, an increasing number of people are resorting to electronic messaging as a mode of communication for both business and personal use. Examples of electronic messaging include the use of electronic mail (E-mail), electronic facsimiles, and various wireless services such as pagers and cellular phones.
Among the electronic messaging services stated above, the use of E-mail has seen the sharpest growth over the past few years. This is because E-mail provides a easy, expedient and efficient mechanism for exchanging information irrespective of the sender or receiver's geographical location. The use of E-mail has been further bolstered by Internet service providers (ISPs), such as America Online and AT&T WorldNet and Internet E-mail services such as Yahoo and Hotmail, who provide free E-mail accounts to Internet users. Thus, users who have an Internet account, a modem, and a computer to communicate information with each other, can at a minimal expense exchange information regardless of each party's geographic location or method of accessing the Internet.
The advent of portable computers such as laptops and personal data assistants (PDAs) has further increased the popularity of electronic messaging as a mode of communication. People can now carry computers with them wherever they go and can remotely access their E-mail accounts from any location from where a connection can be established to the Internet or to a telephone network via a modem. Advances in wireless technologies have further enhanced accessibility to electronic information. In many instances portable computers are also equipped with transceivers which allow users subscribing to wireless service providers to remotely access E-mail via a wireless communication link.
As discussed above, in order to remotely access electronic messages via conventional devices, a connection generally has to be established with a communication network. This is usually accomplished by connecting to the Internet or to some other communication network using a modem or alternatively by using wireless services. These conventional methods of connecting to a communication network have limited capabilities which may restrict a user's access to electronic information. For instance, a modem generally has to be connected to a phone line via a phone jack, typically a RJ-11 phone jack. However phone jack connections may not be readily available at all geographical locations. For example, a person traveling in an airplane generally does not have access to a phone jack, even though access to a public phone or a cellular phone is available.
Wireless services, such as cellular phone services, to a certain extent, have been successful in overcoming some of the problems associated with the need to locate phone jack connections. However, wireless services are often very expensive as they communicate over expensive wireless communication systems rather than inexpensive switched land-based telephone networks. Further, wireless services are often limited by their coverage areas. For example, paging networks and cellular networks are limited by the range of their transmitters. Additionally, wireless communication devices generally have high power consumption which leads to very short battery life and consequently high maintenance costs for the communication device.
Thus, there is a need for an electronic messaging system which will allow users to remotely access electronic messages, such as E-mail and electronic facsimile messages, without having to rely on the availability of phone jack connections or having to incur the costs associated with wireless service providers. Further, it would be desirable if the messaging system is inexpensive, portable, easy to use, has low maintenance and communication costs, and provides reliable communication of information. It is also desirable that the coverage area of the messaging system be at least comparable to that of existing telephone networks.